WP Subtitle

How well this listing is tuned to rank in WordPress.org search, on the factors an owner controls. Not popularity, optimization.

Directory searches this plugin turns up in, and which way each one is moving. WordPress.org publishes no history of search positions, so this starts the day we first tracked a keyword and never backfills.

wp.org is where the directory puts the plugin for that search. On merit is where it would sit if results were ranked on rating, support and updates, without the install boost. The last column is how far the wp.org position moved, from our first reading in the last 90 days to the latest.

16 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 9 listed. 7 left out as unrelated or noise (years, numbers, stray words). 2 of its tags aren't in the top 24 for their own search.

Directory rank vs rivals

wp.org popularity rank over time · higher is better · when a rival's line climbs above yours, they've overtaken you

How often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.

Share of active installs on each version of this plugin · 93% run the current release. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.

Crossed into this band 2.6 years ago; the previous band took 2.6 years to cross, which places it about 50% of the way through.

1. ★★★★★ jzwolak

   6.5y ago

   I cannot even say for sure that this plugin works. The UI requires entering the subtitle in the right side panel and not inline with the post text where I’d expect it. I took 10-15 minutes just to discover this. Then I tried to preview the post to see if the subtitle rendered and it did not. So the only way to know if this plugin is working is to publish a post. I refuse to publish a post to verify the plugin works. The plugin should display the subtitle in the preview and ideally in the post editor. I’m using WordPress 5.3.2 (which is the latest verified working version with this plugin at the time of this writing). Reading over the description of the plugin, it appears that I must edit the theme. I’m not going to do that either. There must be a better way to add subtitles.

   Read on wp.org ↗
2. ★★★★★ iSaumya

   6.6y ago

   I found this plugin when developing a theme where I needed to show the subtitle below the title of the page/post/CPT. Now I saw many reviews saying what’s the point of this plugin or this is not a plug-n-play plugin etc. and I would like those people to say, trust me, guys, you have no development experience whatsoever, otherwise you would have understood the importance of the plugin and thanked that it is not a plug-n-play plugin which gives you full control over how you wanna show, where you wanna show and styling. When Gutenberg was in beta it has the subheading block built-in, but then it did not get released. What a shame! Anyways, I initially thought that I will create a custom Gutenberg Block myself for the subheading, but I quickly saw that any block you make will be shown inside the the_content(); section. Which didn’t worked for me as I wanted it outside of the content so that I can place it below the title and show where I want it to be shown. Also, you can easily add the subtitle support to your CPT which is truly awesome. Again, I will highly recommend this plugin and I would have given 10 stars if it was possible. I just hope that the plugin developer maintains the plugin in future and not leave it in the middle as this is truly an amazing plugin which I would hate to see die. This topic was modified 6 years, 3 months ago by iSaumya.

   Read on wp.org ↗
3. ★★★★★ antonv

   7.4y ago

   Does what it advertises efficiently. I give it 4-stars as it needs a bit of development support on the theme templates to display the subtitles — not quite plug-and-play

   Read on wp.org ↗
4. ★★★★★ stephcthomp

   7.8y ago

   Sorry, cannot activate this plugin in WP 5.03 as it triggers a fatal error.

   Read on wp.org ↗
5. ★★★★★ wellbeingtips

   8.2y ago

   The development of this plugin follows the WordPress future.

   Read on wp.org ↗
6. ★★★★★ surml

   8.6y ago

   Thank you very much for that plugin. It works perfectly in multiple of my clients installations. For the fifth star: It would be very convenient (for me) to have the default behaviour of get_the_subtitle() changed to return the content rather than echo it. 1. It would go along with the behaviour of WordPress built-in functions ( get_the_title(), get_the_content() etc.) 2. I have to provide 3 extra paramters ( $before, $after and $echo ) everytime I want to do this simple switch. Another suggestion would be to check if $post is already set and use it automatically if so. (That way i wouldnt have to use any params at all in most of my use-cases. …and YES, I am lazy 😉 )

   Read on wp.org ↗
7. ★★★★★ bozdoz

   9.3y ago

   Thanks for the simple plugin!

   Read on wp.org ↗
8. ★★★★★ Gary Bairead

   9.6y ago

   Great little plugin.

   Read on wp.org ↗

Recent releases and news for this plugin

1. — Version 3.4.2 Resolve XSS issue – standardized santitization throughout plugin. Fixed issue with autosave and preview. Confirmed WordPress 6.9 compatibility. 3.4.2
2. — Version 3.4.1 Security: Resolve XSS issue by improving sanitization when saving subtitle custom field. Pass the current post object to the wps_subtitle_field_placeholder filter. Props Dominik Schilling . 3.4.1
3. — Version 3.4 Added support for the SEOPress plugin. Props @chriselkins. You can now update the subtitle via the REST API. Props @chriselkins. 3.4
4. — Version 3.3.1 Fixed broken closing H2 tag for WooCommerce subtitle. Props @faktorvier. 3.3.1
5. — Version 3.3 New API for displaying the subtitle using do_action( 'plugins/wp_subtitle/the_subtitle' ) . New API for getting the subtitle using apply_filters( 'plugins/wp_subtitle/get_subtitle', '' ) . Admin column title now matches 3.3
6. — Version 3.2 Fix WordPress 5.0 compatibility – check use_block_editor_for_post_type . 3.2

All 2 disclosed vulnerabilities are patched in the current version (3.4.2). Sites still on an older version should update.

1. Patched Medium · 6.4 WP Subtitle <= 3.4.1 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting ↗
   2025-09-22 CVE-2025-57986 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation Affects <= 3.4.1 Patched in 3.4.2
2. Patched Medium · 6.1 WP Subtitle <= 3.4 - Cross-Site Scripting ↗
   2022-04-25 CVE-2022-1393 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation Affects <= 3.4 Patched in 3.4.1

Automated install-time checks, tested on PHP 8.1.12 · WP 7.0.1

Translated into 25 languages, 6 at 90% or more

Plus 1 more locale with partial translations.

Whether ChatGPT and Claude name this plugin when asked the category question, and whether the readme gives them something to quote.

Not measured yet for this plugin’s topics. Its tracked searches are not among the measured topics. See the topics measured so far.

Growth timeline

Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow

1. 2024-03-09 20K+ → 10K+ down after 962 days in tier
2. 2021-07-21 30K+ → 20K+ down after 835 days in tier
3. 2019-04-08 20K+ → 30K+ up after 727 days in tier
4. 2017-04-11 10K+ → 20K+ up after 369 days in tier
5. 2016-04-07 9K+ → 10K+ up after 20 days in tier
6. 2016-03-18 8K+ → 9K+ up after 40 days in tier
7. 2016-02-07 7K+ → 8K+ up after 172 days in tier
8. 2015-08-19 6K+ → 7K+ up after 139 days in tier

Competes with

The plugins that solve the same job, ranked by shared tags then reach, closest match first. The letter on the right is each plugin's health grade (A best, F worst).

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Drop a live Pulse card for WP Subtitle into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.

WP Subtitle: 10K+ active installs, 4.1★ (21 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-11-01. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/wp-subtitle